'Family Guy' Shocking Death Explained

November 25, 2013 14:25:08 GMT

The show's executive producer revealed why the writers agreed on killing a character which has been on the show for the past 11 seasons.

One of the most shocking TV events happened on Sunday, November 24 when "Family Guy" decided to eliminate a major character for good. [Spoiler Warning] Brian the family dog was hit by a car in the episode called "Life of Brian" and died. Producers thought "it could be a fun way to shake things up."

The episode began with Stewie destroying his time machine, meaning he didn't have a chance to save his best friend. There was not much time to grieve the death of Brian for it occurred within the first 20 minutes and the Griffins have adopted a new pet by the end of the episode.

The show's executive producer Steve Callaghan spoke to E! Online about the sudden death. "Well, this was an idea that got pitched in the writers room and it sort of caught fire, and we thought it could be a fun way to shake things up," he said. "As soon as this idea came up, we started talking about what the next couple episodes could be and we got very excited about the way this change wil affect the family dynamics and the characters."

On why they chose to kill Brian, Callaghan explained, "It seemed more in the realm of a reality that a dog would get hit by a car. As much as we love Brian, and as much as everyone loves their pets, we felt it would be more traumatic to lose one of the kids, rather than the family pet."

The new family pet is a fast-talking dog named Vinny voiced by "The Sopranos" star Tony Sirica. "Where Brian was sort of a match for Stewie intellectually, Vinny is a good match for Stewie because he doesn't let Stewie get away with any crap," Callaghan said. "He'll call Stewie out on his b.s. freely."

Not only Brian's death shocked fans of the series but also it stunned the cast such as Mila Kunis and Seth Green. However, Callaghan is confident that the change will not affect the show critically. "...Our fans are smart enough and have been loyal to our show for long enough to know that they can trust us," Callaghan said. "We always make choices that always work to the greatest benefit of the series."

Brian has been with the show since its 1999 debut. The Seth MacFarlane -created series will continue December 8 with a regular, run-of-the-mill episode.